1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cassette tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly is directed to improvements in the mounting of a magnetic head and the relation thereof to a cassette holder in such apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing cassette tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus usually include a casing having an opening therein for accommodating a tape cassette, and a cassette holder which is mounted for movement between a cassette receiving position projecting from the casing and an operative position in which a cassette in the holder is operatively positioned within the opening. Further, in the existing apparatus, the magnetic head for recording and/or reproducing audio signals on the tape is an operatively positioned cassette is mounted on a head carriage which is movable between inactive and active positions. The active position of the head carriage in the existing recording and/or reproducing apparatus, causes the magnetic head to be completely removed from the cassette so as to permit movement of the latter with the holder between the cassette receiving and operative positions of the latter. After the holder has been moved to its operative position with a cassette therein, the head carriage can be displaced to insert the magnetic head the requisite distance into the operatively positioned cassette for engaging the tape therein against the usual back-up pad. Thus, in the existing apparatus, the stroke or distance moved by the head carriage between its inactive and active positions has to be relatively large, and this makes it difficult to embody such arrangement in a truly compact apparatus, for example, a pocket cassette tape player.
It has been proposed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,845, to avoid the above described problem by providing a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which a magnetic head is fixedly mounted in the cassette holder so that, merely upon the insertion of a cassette in such holder, the magnetic head penetrates fully into the cassette for engaging the tape in the cassette against the back-up pad. Although the foregoing arrangement ensures that the size of the apparatus enlarged by the need to permit movement of the magnetic head a large distance between inactive and active positions, the fact that the head is, in effect, always in its active position gives rise to other problems, particularly in the fast-forward and rewind modes of the apparatus. In such fast-forward and rewind modes of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the tape is transported at a high speed between the take-up and supply reels within the cassette and the pressing of the tape by the magnetic head against the back-up pad is harmful to the tape at such high speeds. Furthermore, the path of the magnetic tape tends to be unstable in the foregoing arrangement.